prediction happiness depend on shame and guilt: verification the moderator role of sex

Shame and guilt feelings are in moral self - conscious emotions category, which occur after a moral error and they have important role in individual and social behavioral regulation. This study, from a positive psychology perspective, investigated the relationship between these emotions with happiness. Participants were 231 university students (female=134 & male= 97) of Shiraz University and University of Medical Sciences which were selected by convenience sampling method. In order to assess variables of research Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire were used. Simultaneous multiple regression was used to examine the research hypothesis.The results indicated that shame feeling and guilt feeling were significant predictor of happiness.Also results confirmed the moderator effect of the gender, Thus, in girls, only shame feeling was negative significant predictor, but in boys both guilt and shame feelings were significant predictor of happiness. shame negatively and guilt positively are predictor variables.The results,based on a positive emotional outcomes, provide some evidence for considering the shame and guilt feelings as two, respectively, separate emotion. Of course, the pattern of the relationship between the variables were functions of gender variable. The more result justifications and implications were discussed.